When I was casting the role of Crystal’s fantasy, movie star lover, Burt Reynolds was hands-down Crystal’s first andonly choice. Although I also suggested Tom Selleck and Harrison Ford, she was adamant. It had to be Burt!Burt has only a teeny-tiny part in Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies, but you know the adage: There are no small parts; only small actors. Thus … selecting a mega superstar for what is essentially a cameo walk-on opens up an interesting conversation: What do writers consider as they fashion the perfect cast to populate their novel?

They consider physical attributes, for sure, but characters aren’t just one-dimensional Flat Chucks. Each character comes with his or her own set of three-dimensional assets, peculiarities, goals, likes, fears, and needs that makes them act they way they do. Writers better be keeping track of their cast because their readers certainly are. Almost nothing yanks the reader out of the story faster than when the traits of the story’s characters are inexplicably altered after they’ve been established. I’m certainly annoyed if a story’s protagonist is a five-foot-tall blonde on page 1, but without explanation she becomes a five-foot-eight brunette on page 79. Who wouldn’t be annoyed? Many writers attempt to avoid such blunders by meticulously planning every detail of their characters’ lives before they tap the first key on their first draft. Some choose to maintain consistency by keeping a bio sheet for each character. A quick Google search turns up a huge number of bio sheets for writers to download. The sheets include scores of personality traits —physical appearance, place of birth, work history, odd habits, hopes and dreams, education, phobias, and on and on — with spaces for the writer to fill in. On the flipside, other writers simply trust the process and find out who the characters are as they write.

I fall somewhere in between — a “seat of your pantser” who also makes up a one-page back-story biography for each of the characters with starring roles. Then, as the story progresses and surprises pop up, I adjust my characters’ personal back-story. That’s how I brought Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies’ main character, Crystal Cropper, to life and how she became real to me … and oh, so controlling. So controlling, in fact, that eventually all I had to do was show up while she dictated the story … and cast the teeny-tiniest cameo roles. But truly, Burt Reynolds was my first choice too. Honest! * * * What’s your methodology for creating characters? Are you a planner or a “seat-of-your-pantser”? Please keep the conversation going by leaving a comment below. And please tell your friends to join in too.Thanks so much for stopping by! Please come back often — Janis

The fantasy objects of desire for our characters are important because this choice tells us more about the character. If my fifty-nine-year-old character insists she will never be too old for Johnny Depp (no matter how young he looks), that says something about her. First of all, that she is an eternal optimist.

However, if that same mature character has fallen in love with the skinny vampire from Twilight, maybe she has a few (sharp) teeth missing from the gears of her life. Or she just likes vampires of any age (because some of them are actually hundreds of years old).

In closing, I would like to say; didn't Crystal have an actual fling with the Burt Man? This reader will never tell.